Charles Dillon Perrine

Charles Dillon Perrine
Born	July 28, 1867(1867-07-28) Ohio
Died	June 21, 1951(1951-06-21) (aged 83)
Nationality	American
Fields	astronomy
Institutions	Lick Observatory
Known for	Himalia Elara

Charles Dillon Perrine (July 28, 1867 – June 21, 1951) was an American astronomer living in Argentina.

Charles Dillon Perrine.

Born in Steubenville, Ohio, a son of Peter and Elizabeth McCauley Perrine, and a descendant of Daniel Perrin, "The Huguenot", he worked at Lick Observatory from 1893 to 1909 and then was director of the Argentine National Observatory (today, Observatorio Astronómico de Córdoba) [1] in Argentina from 1909 until 1936.

Between 1900 and 1908, he accompanied four eclipse expeditions and was in charge of the one sent from Lick Observatory to Sumatra in 1901. Also in 1901, he and George Ritchey observed the apparent superluminal motion in the nebulosity surrounding Nova Persei 1901.

He discovered two moons of Jupiter, today known as Himalia (in 1904) and Elara (in 1905). They were simply designated "Jupiter VI" and "Jupiter VII" and were not given their present names until 1975.

He co-discovered the lost periodic comet 18D/Perrine-Mrkos and several other comets. Antonín Mrkos later named the asteroid 6779 Perrine after him. The lunar crater Perrine is also named after him.

He promoted the study of astrophysics in Argentina and pushed for the construction of a large telescope (the Bosque Alegre telescope), which however was not completed until 1942 (he had retired in 1936). He remained in Argentina after retirement and died there, in Villa General Mitre (which has since been renamed to its original name of Villa del Totoral). He is buried in the cementerio disidente in the city of Córdoba.

External links

Obituaries

• MNRAS 112 (1952) 273
• Nature 168 (1951) 409
• Popular Astronomy 59 (1951) 388
• PASP 63 (1951) 259

Persondata
Name	Perrine, Charles Dillon
Alternative names
Short description
Date of birth	July 28, 1867
Place of birth	Steubenville, Ohio
Date of death	June 21, 1951
Place of death